Grover Norquist wins The Hill’s 2014 elections pundits predictions

Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, rode the Republican wave to a narrow victory in The Hill’s 2014 election prediction contest.

He correctly chose all four top Senate races that were called as of press time: Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina and Kansas. And his Senate margin of 53 seats for the Republicans is the closest of any participant. As of Wednesday afternoon, Republicans won 52 seats outright and are also ahead in the uncalled Alaska Senate race. Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner leads in Virginia, but the race has not yet been called, and Louisiana’s Senate race will head to a runoff, since no candidate topped 50 percent of the vote. In almost all recent polls, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) leads Sen. Mary Landrieu (D).

ADVERTISEMENT

For a second straight cycle, SiriusXM’s Julie Mason finished in second place. She, too, correctly predicted the four Senate races. But while she predicted the GOP would hold a 52-seat margin, the current margin as of press time, the returns suggest that Republican Dan Sullivan will most likely win Alaska.

This is Norquist’s first victory in The Hill’s prediction contest. In 2012, The NDN’s Simon Rosenberg edged out Mason with an exact prediction of the 2012 Electoral College map. A.B. Stoddard, an associate editor and columnist at The Hill, won in 2010.